COUNTED OUT

The continuing struggle of persons with disability for documentation

-  ANANTA JAIN

ON 30 MARCH, students at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, in Allahabad, found the body of Rahul Chaitanya Madala, a Deaf student from Telangana, in the hostel premises. Rahul had barely completed a year at the premier institute when he died by suicide. In the absence of sign language interpreters, it had been an impossible academic semester. Rahul had been failing several subjects—unsurprising, since he was effectively locked out of his education by an apathetic administration. Even after his suicide, IIIT-Allahabad preferred to put the situation in innocuous terms, stating that he had been “suffering from depression due to academic pressure.”

According to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, educational institutions are required to provide sign language interpreters and other support measures to enable students with disabilities to access learning. There is no comprehensive database tracking how many public-funded institutions have complied with these requirements. It does not help that Indian Sign Language is not officially recognised or included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. If granted official status, the use of ISL could be mandated and its presence established across various public institutions and services. Despite years of advocacy by the Deaf community, however, the Delhi High Court dismissed a PIL to include the ISL in the Eighth Schedule, in 2019. The court stated that “there are adequate provisions” under the RPWD Act, “to recognize, preserve and promote” the use of ISL.